Cuomo: Stopping Syrian refugees from coming to U.S. would be like taking down Statue of Liberty

Gov. Cuomo on Tuesday said the moral cost of keeping Syrian refugees out of the country would be too high.

Discussing the balancing act America faces, Gov. Cuomo on Tuesday said the moral cost of keeping Syrian refugees out of the country would be too high.

"We have to protect Americans and not lose our soul as America in the process. Right?" Cuomo said during an event at Harvard University. "The day America says, 'Close the gates, build the wall,' then I say take down the Statue of Liberty because you've gone to a different place."

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Thirty governors so far have demanded the federal government not place Syrian refugees in their states.

Cuomo accused them of playing politics with the issue, noting that by law they don't have any say in the matter.

"What, are you going to have your militia fight the federal government at the borders of your state? It's a pure political statement," he said.

Gov. Cuomo went after other U.S. governors for politicizing the issue of Syrian refugees. (Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News)

The onus, he said, is on the federal government to make sure it can properly screen people.

Cuomo's comments came as calls against the U.S. allowing any more Syrian refugees into the country reached a fever pitch Tuesday — prompting President Obama to go on the offensive.

"Apparently they're scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America," Obama said of the governors while at a summit in Manila. "We are not well served when in response to a terrorist attack we descend into fear and panic."

The White House held a conference call late Tuesday with 34 governors in an attempt to quell the backlash.

Even Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who is receiving a security briefing on the issue Wednesday, raised the possibility of the need for a pause to the refugee — intake program — a potential break with President Obama.

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"We want to see what they do now," Schumer said. "It's a long process. Does it work? If it doesn't work, we're going to tighten it up, there is no question about it."

Obama has repeatedly said he will move forward with a plan to let 10,000 Syrian refugees into the U.S. by year's end — a prospect that has generated cautiousness among many congressional Democrats and fear in the GOP, whose leaders suggested that such a plan could result in allowing terrorists into the country.

The plan has come under particular scrutiny since last week's horrific terrorist attacks in Paris. One of the accused killers reportedly reached France via Greece, by slipping into the flood of migrants fleeing Syria.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said his colleagues are working hard to find legislation to halt the program until the U.S. can be sure no terrorists come in with legitimate refugees.

"We cannot let terrorists take advantage of our compassion," Ryan said. "This is a moment that it's better to be safe than to be sorry, so we think the prudent responsible thing is to take a pause in this particular aspect of this refugee program.."

FBI Director James Comey admitted during a hearing last month that, at that point, the agency could not conduct "thorough" background checks on all 10,000 U.S.-bound Syrian refugees.

Ryan said House GOP leaders are also crafting legislation focused on addressing ways to defeat rather than contain ISIS. "A containment plan is not enough. That has failed," Ryan said.

His comments came after a meeting of House Republicans that focused on the issue. House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Tex.) wrote a letter to Obama on Monday, calling on him to "suspend" the admission of all Syrian refugees.

Meanwhile, Texas Sen. and presidential candidate Ted Cruz, surging in 2016 polls, said late Monday that he would introduce legislation banning Muslim Syrian refugees from entering the United States.

"What Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing is that we bring to this country tens of thousands of Syrian Muslim refugees," Cruz told CNN. "I have to say, particularly in light of what happened in Paris, that's nothing short of lunacy."

Migrants wait to be registered in Presevo, South Serbia, on Tuesday. (DJORDJE SAVIC/EPA)

Clinton dissed Republican leaders on Twitter. "We've seen a lot of hateful rhetoric from the GOP," she tweeted. "But the idea that we'd turn away refugees because of religion is a new low."

Mayor de Blasio argued strongly against the country closing its borders, saying that "to do so is to hand terrorists a victory over our democracy." De Blasio also ripped as "an embarrassment to this county" comments made Monday night by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie that the U.S. should not admit any Syrian refugees — not even "orphans under age 5."

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito called it "appalling" for a slew of governors to declare they don't want Syrian refugees in their states in the aftermath of the Paris attacks.

And human rights advocates, like Lynn Tramonte, deputy director of America's Voice, a pro-immigration group, called the Republican comments "fear-mongering of the worst order."